		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/dozens-reported-killed-in-protests.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Moammar Gaddafi stepped up a crackdown on protesters in several eastern Libyan cities (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-dozens-reported-killed-in-protests.jpg" alt="Moammar Gaddafi stepped up a crackdown on protesters in several eastern Libyan cities (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Libyan security forces have stepped up their crackdown on protesters in several eastern cities demanding an end to the rule of leader Muammar Gaddafi.</p>
<p>In Benghazi, the country&#8217;s second largest city, a stream of 35 bodies was brought to one hospital on Friday, reportedly of protesters shot while trying to march on one of Gaddafi&#8217;s residences, a doctor said.</p>
<p>The deaths took place after funerals for more than a dozen protesters shot dead a day earlier. A doctor in Benghazi&#8217;s al-Jalaa hospital, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said survivors of the clashes had said that after the burials, protesters tried to rally outside the Katiba, a military compound where Gaddafi stays when he visits.</p>
<p>Security forces inside the compound opened fire on protesters as they approached, the doctor said. Dead and wounded began flowing into the hospital&#8217;s emergency ward in the afternoon, in groups of five or six, many with bullet wounds to the head or chest. He said he counted 35 bodies in an ICU unit used as a temporary mortuary.</p>
<p>Several dozen have reportedly been killed already in the unprecedented wave of protests that have erupted during the past four days as the pro-democracy movement that has swept up the Middle East reached one of the region&#8217;s most closed nations. Gaddafi has ruled virtually unquestioned since 1969.</p>
<p>The CIA estimates about one third of Libyans live in poverty, and US diplomats have said in newly-leaked memos that Gaddafi&#8217;s regime seems to neglect the east intentionally, letting unemployment and poverty rise to weaken opponents there.</p>
<p>&#8220;This alarming rise in the death toll, and the reported nature of the victims&#8217; injuries, strongly suggests that security forces are permitted use of lethal force against unarmed protesters calling for political change,&#8221; Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International&#8217;s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.</p>
<p>At least five cities in eastern Libya have seen protests and clashes in recent days. In one of them, Beyida, a hospital official said the bodies of at least 23 protesters killed over the past 48 hours were there. The hospital was treating about 500 wounded &#8211; some in the car park because of lack of beds. Another witness reported 26 protesters buried in Beyida on Thursday and early on Friday.</p>
<p>Forces from the military&#8217;s elite Khamis Brigade moved into Benghazi, Beyida and several other cities, residents said, accompanied by militias that seemed to include foreign mercenaries. Several witnesses reported French-speaking fighters, believed to be Tunisians or sub-Saharan Africans, among militiamen wearing blue uniforms and yellow helmets.</p>
<p>The Khamis Brigade is led by Gaddafi&#8217;s youngest son Khamis and US diplomats in leaked memos have called it &#8220;the most well-trained and well-equipped force in the Libyan military&#8221;. The witnesses&#8217; reports that it had been deployed could not be independently confirmed.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed596b26d85">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed596b26d85',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
